Knife handle construction



June 14, 1932. N. AMOROSO KNIFE HANDLE CONSTRUCTION Filed Jan. 2O

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Patented June 14, 1932 UNITED STATES FATENT OFFICE KNIFE HANDLECONSTRUCTION Application filed January 20, 1932. Serial No. 587,632.

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The use of non-metallic ornamental sections has heretofore necessitatedend bolsters, attaching plates, and the like, to provide rigid areas inthe handle halves for suitably securing the end rivets which function asblade ISO pintles and spacing block rivets. The end bolsters haverequired heavy drilling operations, and the use of attaching plates hasincreased the assembly and manufacturing costs, has tended to producelooseness of the assembled parts, and has lessened the attractiveness ofthe assembled knives. Itis therefore the principal object of myinvention to provide a simple, sturdy, and inexpensive knife handleassembly with non-metallic ornamental sections.

Another difficulty encountered in previous handle assemblies has residedin varying the shape and apearance of the knife ends, and particularlyin rounding the ends to present more pleasing end contours. Anotherobject of my invention is to provide a knife handle construction thatfacilitates production of end designs of dierent appearance, withoutexcessive expenditures for tools and manufacture.

Further objections to the previous handle assemblies utilizingnon-metallic ornamental sections have resided in the necessity fordrilling the frame parts prior to assembly and for riveting theassembled parts accurately, thus requiring skilled labor for drillingand assembly. Itis a further object of my invention to provide ar frameassembly that is simple to manufacture, that is rigidly locked together,and that is easily assembled and riveted without danger of looseness, byunskilled labor.

TWith these and other objects and advantageous features in view, byinvention consists of a novel arrangement of parts more fully disclosedin the detailed description following, in conjunction with theaccompanying drawing, and more particularly defined in the claimsappended hereto.

In the drawing,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a knife assembly in accordance with myinvention;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section therethrough, the knife blade beingshown in side elevation;

Fig. 8 is a section on the line 3 8 of Fig. 1;

Fig. l is a section on the line 4l-4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a perspective detail of the frame parts prior to assembly; and

Fig. 6 is perspective rear view of a frame assembly.

Referring to the drawing, the specific embodiment of my inventionillustrated includes a handle l() comprising two handle scales 11, 12 ofidentical appearance and construction, two knife blades 13, 11i, aseparation plate 15, and two blade springs 16, 17 being locked betweenthe frame assemblies by means of rivets 18, 19 and 20, as hereinafterdescribed. Although two knife blades are shown, it is evident that thenumber of knife blades and their location at one or both ends of thehandle may be varied as desired, in accordance with any selected knifedesign.

rllhe two handle scales which form the walls of the blade pockets areidentical; each includes a cup-shaped frame piece 21 which has a base 22provided with an upstanding rim portion 23, the base having an opening24 which is spaced from the edges to provide peripheral flanges 25 andend sections Q6, 27 a non-'metallic ornamental section 28 is adapted tolit into the frame piece so as to expose its outer surface through theopening 24, and a spacing or liner, plate 29 of similar form lits over`the ornamental plate to increase the assembly thickness and thus permituse of a thinner ornamental plate.

The frame piece is preferably of sheet metal stock, of relatively rigidmaterial; the ornamental plate is` preferably of Celluloid, but may beof any suitable non-metallic or metallic material; the liner plate ispreferably of relatively soft metal. In assembling the handle scale, theornamental plate and the liner plate are placed in the fram'e piece inthe order named, and-the outer edge of the frame `piece rim is pressedover the liner plate as indicated in Fig. 6 to lock the parts together.Preferably, as indicated in Figs. 3 and 4, the harder frame piecematerial indents the softer ornamental plate and liner plate, so as tomake both surfaces of the assembly flush; the ends 26, 27' may be shapeddurinv the pressing operation, if desired. The anges and ends thus serveto support and protect the handle scales against injury.

The handle scale being drilled to receive the rivets, the knifeV isreadily assembled, and the rivets 18, 20 are expanded in the endsections 26, 27, which thus form very sturdy, rigid supports for thetwo4 rivetsffunctioning as knife blade pintles. The central rivet 19may, if desired, terminate in the liner plates 29, as the ornamentalvplates are rigidly locked to the liner plat-es by the flanges of theframe.

The improved construction thus utilizes inexpensive parts that areeasily manufactured and assembled, and that are rigidly locked togetherwith no tendency for looseness, the completed knife presenting a neatand attractive appearance.

While I have described a specific constructional embodiment of myinvention, it is obvious that such changes in the general arrangement,proportion, and shape of the parts may be made as are required toproduce a desired knife handle design, within the spirit and the scopeof the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a knife assembly, handle scales each comprising an ornamentalpiece, a liner plate contiguous thereto, and a frame piece having spacedperipheral flanges which engage and hold the ornamental piece and theliner plate in the frame piece in assembled relation, a blade and ablade spring between said handle scales, and rivets extending throughsaid blade and blade spring and seated in said handle scales.

2. In a knife assembly, handle scales each comprising an ornamentalpiece, a liner plate contiguous thereto, and a frame piece having anopen base provided with end sections and a peripheral flange engagingthe ornamental piece, and a peripheral flange engaging the liner plate,whereby the ornamental piece and the liner plate are held in the framepiece in assembled relation, a blade and a blade spring between saidhandle scales, and rivets eX- tending through said blade and bladespring and seated in said handle scales.

3. In a knife handle construction, a handle scale comprising a framepiece, an ornamental piece seated therein, and a liner plate also seatedtherein, said frame piece having peripheral flanges engaging the sidesof said ornamental piece and said liner plate to retain them in saidframe piece in assembled relation.

4. In a knife handle construction, a handle scale comprising a framepiece, an orna-

